Author: dad

Today I searched for music while rowing. The singing of the chain on the rowing machine was better than the first music selections that played during a workout. So after rejecting one song after another I silenced the music player and listened to the sound of the chain.

After enjoying the relative silence and the perfect rhythm of the “singing” chain, a name came to mind. Julie London. We had seen a video of her appearance on a 1950’s TV panel show and she seemed to be harboring deep waters beneath her chosen facade of a humorous exterior.

Though I’d heard the name I couldn’t have told you before seeing that old video of her why she had been famous. Her fame came from being an actress and popular singer.

Wondering what her songs were like, I told Siri (the music player) to play songs by Julie London. I listened to them through the remainder of the time spent rowing today. None had a fast beat like I normally prefer when rowing but the words were clear and they actually said things that amounted to expression of thoughts, so all-in-all the old Julie London songs helped me stay focused while rowing. A screenshot of one of the songs on YouTube, The End of the World, is displayed at the top of this post.

That song’s title apart from the actual lyrics of the song seems especially appropriate to this era of the world. Some of its lyrics could even be taken as analogies to the main problem of the world. So it was an especially thoughtful experience to listen to that particular song.

A screenshot of data & graph for only one of the rowing sessions is shown here. But data and “live” graphs for all of them can be seen via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session in which you are interested.

Like yesterday, there was no atrial fibrillation again today so again hurray (like yesterday)!

Happy rowing to you!

The above screenshot is of one of the first few moments of a video I watched during some of the time spent rowing today. I muted the sound, enlarged it to full-screen and sort of pretended I was in a boat viewing that scene behind me. That video is on YouTube and is called Row on the Grand, training video 34 min HD.

There were several sessions done at scattered times today. All but one of them was on the rowing machine.

A screenshot of data & graph for only the very last one is shown here. Data and graphs for all of them can be seen via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session in which you are interested.

There was no atrial fibrillation today, hurray!

Happy rowing to you!

Today’s title is relating to the fact that recently I gained another “training partner.” The Training Partner feature is something optional that anybody who has an online logbook on concept2.com can do.

All it means is that people who are training partners have readily accessible shortcuts to view each other’s logbook entries. That shortcut is the Training Partner tab within their logbook.

It can be a source of encouragement to see that others are rowing and logging workouts. It can also sometimes be a source of inspiration for something to do or to try with regard to using the Concept2 machines.

Currently I have nine training partners. I click on the Training Partner tab every day to at least get a glance at the list of most recent workouts done by those training partners. Sometimes I will look at that list before I do a workout and then click on one or more sessions logged by a training partner because I’m looking for inspiration as to what to do that day.

Today’s main inspiration was from a couple of training partners who had scheduled a 30 minute online rowing session for 09:00 local time this morning. Another guy, who is located in Italy, also turned up at the last minute. So there were 4 of us who rowed together in the same session and motivated each other to keep going to the finish line.

The online rowing session was named “30 minute handicap 5K chase.” The idea was that the slowest person would announce his intended pace and the time it would take him to row 5K at that pace. In today’s case the slowest rower intended to row at 2:42/500 meters which would amount to 27 minutes for 5K. The others would decide how fast they wanted to row and figure the time it would take them at their paces to row 5K. Then they would each subtract that time from 27 minutes and the difference would be how long they would wait after the start before they started rowing to catch up to the first rower. Today, the other two guys were going to row at a pace of about 2:09/500 meters which would amount to 21 minutes and 30 seconds to row 5K, so they each waited at the start line for 5 minutes and 30 seconds after the session started. They caught up to the first guy at about 5,000 meters and had a few minutes to spare before the 30 minute total time was up.

As for me, I started out immediately, but super-slow for the first minute. Then a little bit faster for the second minute. After two minutes, the first guy was over 100 meters ahead of me so I picked up my pace a little bit until I drew to within about 25 meters of the first guy. I matched his pace and remained 25 meters behind him until the other two guys caught up to me, then I sprinted for less than a minute to catch up to the first guy and remained even with him until the finish line.

It was simultaneously invigorating, relaxing and fun.

Only screenshots of the report and graphs for the 30 minute online session are shown here. There were a few other offline workouts today. Data and graphs for all of them can be seen via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.

Happy rowing to you!

Today’s workouts were mainly focused on getting the daily Calorie quota for an activity app which is used to motivate me to move.

There were four sessions: two short warmups, a 33 minute online session and a 10,000 meter offline piece. All were on the rowing machine.

All sessions, data and graphs can be seen via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.

Happy rowing to you!

If you look closely at any sunset, it changes from moment to moment while the overall pleasure of viewing its beauty remains relatively unchanged.

Similar it was with today’s main workout which changed from moment to moment while the pleasure of the effort remained essentially the same. That workout was a 10,000 meter rowing session. It was done at a mostly steady pace and included eight intervals of about one minute each. Those intervals began after the first 1,000 meters and then seven more times at the beginning of each subsequent 1,000 meters.

The last couple thousand meters were done at an effort level that was lower than the average effort level of the first 8,000 meters.

There were six other sessions which served as warmups and warm down.

All sessions, data and graphs can be seen via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.

Happy rowing to you!

There were several rowing sessions today and two of them were online in the virtual company of other rowers. The session that was the most fun, relatively speaking, was the second of two online sessions. That session was a bit more fun because it included three 1-minute intervals near the end of the session. Those three intervals were moderate and not all-out sprints. They were so moderate that they weren’t sprints at all because I didn’t come close to breathing hard at all. But they felt like a bit of fun each time I did one of them. Fun, fun, fun.

As for the other sessions, data and graphs can be seen for all of today’s sessions via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.

Happy rowing to you!

There were five workout sessions today. But – and this is a big but – today there was atrial fibrillation. As a result of the AF, today’s sessions were low energy. Those that have heart rate graphs have sloppy heart rate graphs.

But – and this is another big but- at least I spent time doing some working out. Studies have shown that exercise is beneficial to those who have atrial fibrillation, as long as the exercise isn’t excessive.

Sorry – the definition of “excessive” is not provided. None of them felt at all excessive, to me…

Screen shots here relate to only one of today’s 5 workouts, a 10K rowing session.

Data and graphs can be seen for all of today’s sessions via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.

Happy rowing to you!

There hasn’t been a new post here for three days. Today, yesterday and the day before yesterday is what today’s blog post is about but it won’t be very wordy.

The total number of workout sessions during the past three days was 18. Those 18 burned a total of about 2,885 Calories, which is about what is usually burned by the average person who runs a marathon. The total distance was actually longer than a marathon at 53,766 total meters (33.41 total miles) but it’s far easier to do 18 separate, slow-paced workout sessions which are spread out over three days than it is to run a marathon as one single continuous activity.

Good news regarding atrial fibrillation: There was none of it today and therefore the sessions which also have heart rate graphs have nice looking plots.

Data and graphs can be seen for all the sessions, if interested, via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.

Happy rowing to you!

Today’s workout activity consisted of a couple SkiErg sessions for warming up, followed by a little over 2,000 meters for more warmup.

But wait, that’s not all! The main workout was 10,000 meters rowing. The goal during the 10K was to keep close watch on heart rate and adjust effort level to maintain heart rate balanced at a little more than 100 beats per minute.

Heart behaved well and was in its normal BPM range for the effort level. The only screen shots displayed here are for today’s 10K.

Data and graphs can be seen for all the sessions, if interested, via this link to my online logbook. To see a session’s data & graphs click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the session you want to see.

Happy rowing to you!